


Love at First Like

by ILikeShorts



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Accidental Confession, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Instagram, One Shot, Pokemon Gym Leaders, Romance, Social Media
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24885490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILikeShorts/pseuds/ILikeShorts
Summary: Candice is all over Sinnohgram. Volkner only cares for battle videos. At least, that's what he says. Then he accidentally likes a photo of hers. Which wouldn't be so bad, if it wasn't two years old. The next League meeting is going to be fun.
Relationships: Denzi | Volkner & Ouba | Flint, Denzi | Volkner/Suzuna | Candice
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Love at First Like

The moment the League meeting came to an end, Candice's phone came out. She was the third most followed person on Sinnohgram and loving it.

With the _first_ most liked photo, since earlier that week. Making snow angels in a bikini had been just a bit of fun. A joke that anyone who'd set foot in her city would undoubtedly understand. _#snowpointsummer_.

But it had taken off like no other. The girls at her gym were already planning a follow-up—making Abomasnowmen. Also in bikinis.

Candice ran the northernmost gym in the region, and challengers had long dreaded the icy trek up there. Her Sinnohgram had changed that, she was proud to say. It made people _want_ to come to Snowpoint.

Then they sometimes left when they realized how cold it actually was, but hey, she couldn't fix everything.

Next to her, Volkner leaned over with a grin. "I swear, Candice, if you spent as much time training as you spent on Sinnohgram, you'd be the League Champion by now."

Volkner didn't do Sinnohgram.

Well, he was on it, but he didn't seem to get what it was about. He pretty much just posted things he was working on now and then. Gears and wires and all that.

Which was a pity, because that _face._ That _body._ One shirtless selfie on the beach with those blue eyes sparkling in the Sunyshore sunshine and he could break the whole internet.

But that was Volkner. He obviously didn't care.

"Like I could," she bantered back. "Not even _my_ team could handle that much."

So Volkner liked to tease her a little.

…Okay, a lot. But he could also be really sweet.

Like when she'd had that exhibition match with Byron and gotten stonewalled in front of the whole League. She'd thought Volkner would never let her live it down. Instead he'd told her it happened to the best of them, and he knew a way to get past Byron's defenses and he'd teach her at the Battleground someday.

But when she'd texted him to set it up, he'd been busy every time.

"Besides. It's fun." Feeling a little daring, she showed him _#snowpointsummer_. "And have you _seen_ my latest picture?"

He barely even gave it a glance. "You know I only watch your battle videos."

* * *

_candice just posted a photo._

Not that Volkner ever paid attention. Sinnohgram was a waste of time.

Well, generally speaking. There were a few people he bothered to follow. Top trainers and up-and-coming ones to watch.

Candice posted the most of them all.

He tapped out of sheer curiosity. Nothing more. Out of boredom. Call it procrastination. She was with Gardenia and Maylene at her house. At least, he figured it must be her house.

…Fine, he _knew_ it was her house.

But never mind how he knew that.

 _#girlsnightin_ , she'd captioned the image, along with a flurry of emojis. Why was Candice so into Sinnohgram, anyway?

He set aside his phone with a frown. It was already late, and he'd told himself he was going to get started on those new blueprints for the gym.

But he had to hand it to her, the girl could take a good picture.

Ignoring his better judgment, he picked it back up again. There were hundreds of them. Candice skating on a frozen lake. Candice in a pale blue coat and matching mittens. Candice staring up at the night sky as snowflakes fell around her.

Candice made Snowpoint look like some kind of glittering winter wonderland rather than the coldest damn place on the map. Maybe that was how she saw it.

He wouldn't be surprised.

But he'd been at this a while, and now he seriously needed to get a move on with those blueprints.

…In a minute. Sinnohgram was the worst.

Candice and her trainers having a snowball fight. Candice riding her Mamoswine up a mountain peak. Candice posing with an ice cream cone in a blizzard. That could not be fun.

Sometimes her photos came off a bit staged, but her…

She always seemed so genuinely happy.

_Must be nice._

Candice at the gym, not a hair out of place. No points for realism there.

Though she had an impressive gym layout. More than impressive. He touched the screen to zoom in.

Oh, hell no. Had he just _liked_ that?

* * *

Sometimes Candice let Maylene use her phone, just so Maylene could scroll through Sinnohgram to her heart's content.

It didn't make sense. Maylene was old enough to lead a gym and even take on Pokémon in combat herself, but a Sinnohgram account was out of the question. It was addictive, her father insisted. A dangerous thing.

He could talk, blowing all their money at the Game Corner, but Candice had never pointed that out to Maylene. Maybe that was why he worried so much.

"Hey, Candice." Maylene's eyes were wide. "Guess who just liked your photo."

"Anton."

Anton was a trainer at her gym with a tendency to help out after hours—especially on Friday nights. Candice suspected he admired more than just her battle abilities.

"Try again."

"Crasher Wake," Gardenia joked.

"Tell me it isn't Wake."

"No," Maylene said with emphasis. " _Volkner_."

Candice grabbed the phone out of Maylene's hand. "Let me see that."

 _volkner liked your photo._ This was real.

Probably one of her battle shots, knowing Volkner. Maybe even the bikini one, if he was messing with her.

She opened the image. It was her mid-training, Pokémon at her side, a determined look on her face. She wasn't wearing anything special. Just the kind of skirt and blouse she'd put on for a typical day at the gym.

What had happened to that skirt, come to think of it? Did she even still _have_ that skirt?

And then it hit her.

"This is, like, two years ago."

* * *

There weren't many people Flint would wake up in the middle of the night for, but Volkner was one of them. When that familiar Bidoof cry went off, he rolled over in bed and reached right for his phone.

"Hey."

That was his ringtone for Volkner, a Bidoof. It was an inside joke, from the good old days when they'd journeyed across Sinnoh with not much more than the clothes on their backs and a handful of gym badges between them. A wild Bidoof had stolen Volkner's pants while he'd been sleeping, and—

Anyway. No time for that.

"Flint?" There was an urgency in Volkner's voice that he wasn't used to. This sounded bad.

"Yeah?"

"If you like someone's photo and then you unlike it, do they get anything?"

"Huh?"

"On Sinnohgram. Like a notification. You know."

 _That_ was what Volkner had called for?

"Man, I have no idea." He sank back into his pillow, tension leaving his shoulders as quickly as it had come. "Ask the girls. Ask Candice. She's all over that stuff."

There was a long pause before Volkner spoke. "No."

Too long.

"Oh, shit." Flint didn't hold back his laughter. "It's her, isn't it?"

" _No._ " Another pause. "…Yeah."

"So what's the problem? You liked her photo. Probably made her night."

"An old photo."

Oh. "How old?"

"Two years and three months."

" _Oh._ "

"You think she'll notice?"

He could lie to spare Volkner the embarrassment, but that wasn't the way their friendship worked. "It's Candice. I bet she's already noticed."

* * *

Volkner was ten minutes late when he arrived at the League. So what if Cynthia let him have it? It was worth it to get out of dealing with _her_.

But Cynthia was even later, and without Cynthia, the meeting hadn't started. He sat down next to Flint without a word. With any luck, Candice would be lost in her phone.

She sidled right up to him. "So. You like my photos."

This was not his day.

"What photos?" He met her eyes dead on. Most people did the opposite when they were lying, and he wasn't that stupid.

Candice just giggled. "Don't think I didn't see."

She wasn't that stupid, either.

The only way now was to own it. She wanted to hear it. It wasn't hard to tell. She liked him.

She wouldn't if she got to know him.

The words came out in a rush. "I was hacked."

Flint facepalmed.

 _Idiot._ Everyone said they'd been hacked.

"The tech guy himself?" Candice teased, clearly enjoying this much more than he was.

"I'm an electrical engineer," he shot back. "Not a computer genius." Where was Cynthia when you needed her?

"What did the hackers do?" Maylene asked innocently. Or maybe not so innocently.

"None of your business."

"You'd better report this to Sinnohgram." Roark pulled out his phone. "There's a form for that. I'll do it."

" _Don't_ ," Volkner snapped. Subtle.

"We could," Gardenia began, and he knew she meant trouble. "Or Volkner could just drop the act and tell Candice he likes her."

He retorted with lightning speed. "That would require me to actually like her."

* * *

Candice had left. Taken her things and just gone. Who knew what Volkner would think, but she didn't have it in her to hang around after _that_.

Running into Cynthia on the way out had been bad enough.

"Shouldn't you be inside?" Cynthia had asked at first, and then, catching sight of her face, "What _happened_?"

" _Volkner_ ," she'd said, with a frustrated sigh.

Cynthia had seemed to get it.

So there she was in the cliffs behind the League, staring miserably into her phone, debating the merits of unfollowing Volkner on Sinnohgram.

He'd never notice. But the media would. They'd write about it till the whole world noticed, and that'd teach him. If he even cared.

 _One way to find out_. She stopped short, hovering over the unfollow button. Was she really going through with this?

A voice interrupted her thoughts. "He didn't mean it."

Flint.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here." Flint shrugged. "And you're kind of right outside my apartment."

Her expression softened. After all, none of this was _his_ fault.

"How was the meeting?" She didn't dare ask him what she meant—how was Volkner? And had he said anything about her?

"Short. Not much to report. And I don't know what you told Cynthia, but she gave Volkner hell."

"Good."

Flint just laughed. In a strange way, she understood why they were best friends.

"Has he always been like this?"

"Not always."

She offered a weak smile. "Sometimes it's hard to believe."

"Volkner would kill me if he knew I was about to tell you what I'm about to tell you." Flint hesitated, as though weighing whether or not to go on. "But it might be for the best."

Candice stepped closer, making no effort to contain her curiosity. "I can keep a secret."

"Okay." His tone turned serious. "Remember Jasmine?"

"The Johto leader?" She'd heard of her.

"Yeah. And Volkner's ex."

She hadn't heard _that_ much.

"She was here awhile. Did contests. Stayed in Sunyshore. They got to talking." Flint left her to imagine the rest. "Volkner doesn't let many people in, you know?"

Oh, she _knew_. "So what happened?"

"She went back to her gym, fair enough. And Volkner…"

"He never got over her?" It just figured.

"He did. Eventually." Flint's face went dark. "But it messed him up bad. Didn't go to the gym, wouldn't get off the couch, watched the entire _Love and Battles_ series. My guess is, he's not gonna go back there if he can help it."

"What's wrong with _Love and Battles_?" she questioned. Those movies were cute.

Flint grinned. "You _really_ can't tell him I said that."

* * *

That night, Volkner checked his texts to find a brutal one-two punch from Flint.

_You've got this. Don't fuck it up._

_But if you do, hey, there's always Love and Battles._

He'd show Flint. He wasn't going to need _Love and_ fucking _Battles_.

* * *

The next day, Candice checked her Sinnohgram to find an endless stream of notifications.

_volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo. volkner liked your photo._

Volkner was liking _all_ of her photos.

He'd left a DM. Just a single word. _Sorry._

How annoyingly Volkner.

And another one. _Battleground Saturday?_

She called him right away.

"Hey." His voice was nonchalant as ever.

" _Volkner_." She couldn't hide the excitement in hers. "What are you doing?"

"Thought it was time to drop the act."

Candice nearly dropped her phone.

"So… I'll see you Saturday?" she finally managed.

"Perfect."

* * *

Several weeks later, Flint wouldn't let Volkner hear the end of it.

"So how does it feel to have the most liked photo on Sinnohgram?"

Candice's trainers had caught them when they'd thought no one was nearby. Lying in a snowdrift, his arms and jacket wrapped around her. She looked unmistakably happy.

For once, so did he.

"Not bad." Volkner smiled at the memory. "Not bad at all."


End file.
